Missing Native American Women

You probably haven’t seen anything on the news but if you google ‘ Missing Native American Women ‘. You’ll see what I mean. They are turning up missing and murdered at a crazy high rate. Both off tribal lands and in the cities. It’s also happening in Canada. The law can’t even give the statistics on them and it seems to be brushed aside

 

it's insane and you know why it doesn't get any press , DRIVES ME NUTS !!!!!JMO IMO

 

No one knows precisely how many Native American women and girls are missing or murdered because some cases go unreported, others aren't documented thoroughly and there isn't a specific government database tracking these cases.

The issue is gaining political traction as an expanding activist movement focuses on Native women — a population known to experience some of the nation's highest rates of murder, sexual violence and domestic abuse.

Photos: Missing and murdered Native American women

Concerned about the way federal agencies investigate missing and murdered Native American women, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines is asking the Senate Indian Affairs Committee to come to Montana for a field hearing.

The hearing would be a follow up to the committee's December oversight hearing of the FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs' handling of missing women reports in Indian Country.

Daines: Hold hearing in Montana on missing, murdered Native Americans

 

04.26.18
Daines Bill to Establish National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls Passes Senate
U.S. SENATE — This week, the U.S. Senate passed Senator Steve Daines’ bill to recognize May 5th as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls.

Daines Bill to Establish National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls Passes Senate | U.S. Senator Steve Daines of Montana

Epidemic of Missing or Murdered Native Women:

• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2015, homicide ranged from the second to seventh leading cause of death for American Indian and Alaska Native females between 1 and 39 years of age.
• During this time, homicide remained a leading cause of death for most American Indian and Alaska Native females between 40 and 64 years of age.
• According to the Department of Justice, in some tribal communities, American Indian women face murder rates that are more than 10 times the national average.

 

#NotInvisible: Why are Native American women vanishing?
By SHARON COHEN September 6, 2018

Ashley HeavyRunner Loring, a 20-year-old member of the Blackfeet Nation, was last heard from around June 8, 2017. Since then her older sister, Kimberly, has been looking for her.

She has logged about 40 searches, with family from afar sometimes using Google Earth to guide her around closed roads. She’s hiked in mountains, shouting her sister’s name. She’s trekked through fields, gingerly stepping around snakes. She’s trudged through snow, rain and mud, but she can’t cover the entire 1.5 million-acre reservation, an expanse larger than Delaware.


___

For many in Native American communities across the nation, the problem of missing and murdered women is deeply personal.

“I can’t think of a single person that I know ... who doesn’t have some sort of experience,” says Ivan MacDonald, a member of the Blackfeet Nation and a filmmaker. “These women aren’t just statistics. These are grandma, these are mom. This is an aunt, this is a daughter. This is someone who was loved ... and didn’t get the justice that they so desperately needed.”

#NotInvisible: Why are Native American women vanishing?

 

A short video piece presented by Al Jazerra last year:


Two days ago:
Native American families seek justice for women missing or killed in unsolved crimes

One day ago:
Seattle marchers call for justice for missing and murdered indigenous women

 

On tribal lands, I wonder if the failure to keep statistics has to do with only the tribes having authority to keep or publish statistics?

 

Not exactly an answer to your question, Graystation, but I found this:

The Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 (TLOA; P.L. 111-211, 124 Stat. 2258, Section 251(b)) requires the Bureau of Justice Statistics to establish and implement a tribal data collection system and to support tribal participation in national records and information systems.
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) - Indian Country Justice Statistics

Publications & Products: Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities: Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) - Publications & Products: Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities

 

House committee considers bill creating task force on missing, murdered indigenous women

 

I don't know the statistics on missing Native American women but I do know that crimes on Indian land are strictly handled in-house. Your regular, local policeman are not allowed.

 

I don't know the statistics on missing Native American women but I do know that crimes on Indian land are strictly handled in-house. Your regular, local policeman are not allowed.

 

I watched the movie Wind River a few months back, it sheds a lot of light on this subject. I never knew this was happening until I watched it. Now, I'm noticing more unidentified Native bodies found than missing Natives reported. Heartbreaking.

 

Welcome, Nell1212!

 

This is not true for most of the US. Each tribe may or may not have a police force. Most are too small to afford one. Some tribes do have a police force and they work in tandem with the local police. In my state, Oklahoma, state police can arrest anyone on any land. What is much more common is that tribal police are not allowed to arrest white perpetrators who commit crimes on various reservations. This is one of the reasons so many Native women are victims.

 

It depends on what state you are in and whether they are a part of PL280. The states/local can have some enforcement. Otherwise, LE is governed by the tribe or federal authorities. Crimes committed by non-natives against natives are federally enforced (FBI). Major crimes are jointly enforced by Fed and tribal. But cooperation is not often good due to mistrust and just the overall culture. Sometimes people go missing and are never reported missing for a long long time. It is a huge mess and tragedy that has no easy answer.

 

This is not a good description of the situation.

Rather, tribal police are prohibited from arresting any non native perpetrators who commit crimes against non natives. Such perpetrators can be white, hispanic, black- or even native American (if they are not formally enrolled in a tribe). Likewise, the victims can be white, black, hispanic etc.

Here is a detailed article on the topic that presents a rape incident on a North Dakota reservation: Victim was white, alleged perpetrators were white and hispanic. Neither the race of this victim, nor the races of the perpetrators are important. Rather, what is important is that both victims and perpetrators were non native.

On Indian Land, Criminals Can Get Away With Almost Anything - The Atlantic

 

You're right, I should have said Non-Native.

The article is referring to one incident on one reservation in North Dakota. A complete opposite situation is going on in Oklahoma right now. A Muskogee-Creek man killed another Muskogee-Creek man on Muskogee-Creek land. He was arrested by the local police dept, was convicted, and is on death row. His lawyer has appealed this, saying he should have been arrested by tribal police and tried in Creek court or federal court. It's a confusing mess that has actually made its way to the Supreme Court.

 

Lower Valley human remains discovered in 1988 to be exhumed for DNA
Article from December 2018, happening practically in my backyard (well, technically three hours away). This case does have a thread here
WA - WA - Yakima Co, NtvAmFem 918UFWA, 20-30, Found on Tribal Land, Feb'88
Unfortunately, there's an even more recent case that may not have a thread started
Body of missing Yakima woman found on Yakama reservation
On the other hand, I am really happy to see the Yakima Herald is devoting a section of their paper called The Vanished: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Washington State.
Vanished
Unfortunately for all the attention that Washington State is giving this, Idaho is strangely silent.

 

US Senators Reintroduce Bill Focusing On Missing, Murdered Indigenous Women

 

Keep calling newspaper tell them you report others went missing their needs to be fair for everyone everyone just important

 

Interesting article:

No one knows how many Indigenous women are missing or murdered:
https://truthout.org/articles/no-one-knows-how-many-indigenous-women-are-missing-or-murdered/